These people are forgetting that tattoos are permanent! We look at some of the worst tattoo fails.

The symbol is a moon-shape over his forehead and dots along his brow-line, nose and cheek.

“I never had any regrets whatsoever,” Jeff said. “It just felt like something that happened, a spontaneous thing I did.”

When he returned to Mariposa, near Yosemite, California, USA, though, Jeff said people gave him strange looks and children would point at his face.

“Some people would say ‘what a weirdo’, but you’re always going to have some people like that,” he confessed.

And, before long, he stopped noticing people’s negative reactions and became used to living with his unusual appearance.

Even Jeff’s parents Helen, 71, and Eugene, 74, who were unsure about his tattoos at first, soon came around to the idea.

“I’m no stranger to tattoos. I have a big Asian jungle on my back, a bonsai tree on my legs, Chinese characters on my arms and ankles and an astrological birth chart on my fingers,” he said.

Working as a road builder was not a problem initially, either, as his trade union found him jobs.

PA Real Life

Jeff had the unusual tattoo after seeing it in a dream one night

“When I arrived for work, people would tell me my tattoo was off-putting to them at first,” he admitted. “But once they got to know me, they were fine.”

Jeff met and married Misha Montoya, now 33, in June 2004 and adopted her son Kaiis, now seven.

They have since divorced, but Jeff now wants his tattoos removed, to make it easier to find regular work, so he can support Kaiis.

“When I’ve had to find work on my own, I’ve really struggled,” he said. “I never got hired without the union and I think that could be because of my tattoo. I have a good work record and good references.”

Jeff has already travelled 8,000 miles to Kerola, India, once for a removal session, but wants four more to remove the inking for good.

Despite travel costs of around $1,200 (£965) return each time there and back, it’s still cheaper than doing it in the US.

In India he pays just $50 (£40) per session, compared to $1,000 (£804) in America.

Jeff added: “Since becoming a father and having to face a faltering economy and employers’ potential preconceptions and prejudices, towards someone with a tattooed face, I have made the conscious decision to remove my tattoos - if it wasn’t for my son, I wouldn’t even consider the removal.”